Car loan flex commission class actions

If you have previously registered or recorded your interest on our registration portal, then you have registered.

If you received an email confirming your registration and/or you have previously received updates from our team (including the last update in January 2024) then you have registered.  You do not need to do anything else.

We are not currently accepting new registrations. Information about any further opportunities to register to participate in these class actions will be provided on this website and our social media pages.

No. We do not need any documents at this stage. We expect that we will be able to get all the information we need from your relevant lender when and if the time comes, however please do keep the documents in a safe place if you have them in case we need them at a later stage.

At this stage, you do not need to send us further information about your car loan or your experience getting your car loan.

Unfortunately we are unable to provide advice relating to individual car loans. 

You are still required to keep paying your loan repayments if your car loan is ongoing. Your registration in this class action does not alleviate your responsibility to continue to make car loan repayments or to otherwise pay off any debt with your lender. Whether or not an individual will receive compensation (if the class actions are successful) is dependent on their individual circumstances. You should not rely on any potential compensation in relation to any outstanding debt you may have with your lender.

If you want legal advice about individual legal issues, we recommend you seek advice from the following services:

• A Community Legal Centre (CLC) - Enter your postal address into the CLC website and find your local centre
• National Debt Hotline (Financial Rights Legal Centre) - Visit the Financial Rights website or call 1800 007 007
• Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) - Visit the AFCA website or call 1800 931 678
• A private solicitor – see the Law Society pages of the relevant State or Territory where you live.

Future updates on the class actions will primarily be published on our website. 

 If you have already registered with or recorded your interest in the class action, there is nothing further you need to do. Please check this website to be alerted to updates.  

Please send an email to Flexclassaction@mauriceblackburn.com.au with your new contact details. Make sure you put “Change in Contact Details” in the subject line of your email.

There is nothing further you need to do. We have all the information we need. You may wish to periodically review this website for updates.

You can register in the class action:

• whether or not you have paid off the car loan, refinanced the car loan or no longer have the car you paid for with the car loan.
• if the car loan was for a new or used vehicle.
• regardless of which state or territory the car loan was entered into.
• if you don’t have your car loan documentation or car loan information. 
• if your personal details, including your legal name have changed since you received your car loan. Please enter your current contact details so that we can contact you. However, for verification purposes, please enter the name which is on your loan contract.
• if, since obtaining your car loan, you have moved overseas or interstate.
• if you had a consumer car loan arranged anywhere in Australia.
• if you entered into a joint loan – make sure all people named on the loan enter a separate registration.
   

Please note: the class actions do not cover loans arranged directly with the banks or brokers, or novated leases, business loans and goods loans.

We are unable at this time to inform every group member of how much, if any, compensation they may receive. This depends on a number of factors, including:

• the terms of your loan contract including the interest rate charged; and
• the terms of any settlement reached or judgment made in relation to the claims

Please note, your registration does not automatically mean that you will be eligible to receive compensation, as individual group members' eligibility will be assessed and determined at a later stage (if the case is successful).

It does not cost you anything to register and you will never be asked to pay any costs out of your own pocket.

The Supreme Court of Victoria has made a group costs order in each of the three proceedings. The orders are available here:

• Westpac & St George Flex Commission Class Action
• Esanda Car Loans (ANZ and Macquarie Bank) Flex Commissions Class Action
• Macquarie Leasing Flex Commission Class Action

This means that if the class action in which you are a group member is successful (by judgment or settlement), any legal costs payable to Maurice Blackburn have been set as 24.5% of the total monetary amount achieved at mediation or awarded by the Court.

The Court will also need to approve any amount paid to Maurice Blackburn for the work that they have done as fair and reasonable.

The Court may change the rate of the group costs order in the future.

A flex commission is a payment made by a lender to a car dealer depending on the interest rate and length of a car loan that the dealer arranged for the lender with a consumer. The flex commission increased as the interest rate and/or term of the car loan increased.

In general, the more a consumer paid in interest, the higher the flex commission would be.

The plaintiffs allege that this arrangement incentivised car dealers to increase the interest rate and/or the length of car loans, in order to increase their flex commission, and consequently, consumers paid more than they otherwise would have done.

How did it work?

When a consumer bought a car and arranged their car finance through a car dealership, the car dealer set the rate of interest on the car loan at or above a base rate and below any cap set by the lender.

The car dealer had discretion to increase or decrease the interest rate without reference to the risk profile of the car loan or consumer. The lenders also benefited from the commission because the “flex amount” was shared between the bank and the car dealer.

The plaintiffs claim that consumers were not told or informed of the existence of the flex commission, how they were calculated, or the amounts paid in relation to their car loans when they should have been.

Many borrowers knew nothing of these arrangements. Lenders did not publicise them; dealers did not reveal them. The dealer’s interest in securing the highest rate possible is obvious. It was the consumer who bore the cost.

(Financial Services Royal Commission Final Report 2018)

The plaintiffs say flex commissions were unlawful because they were in breach of legislation prohibiting “unfair or dishonest conduct” and “misleading and deceptive conduct”.

For all the borrower knew, the interest rate the dealer quoted had been fixed by the lender. But, whenever the dealer quoted a rate larger than the base rate, the dealer was acting in its own interests. -  Financial Services Royal Commission Final Report, 2018

The plaintiffs also claim that interest paid on the car loans was “money had and unjustly received” and caused “unjust enrichment” of the defendants.

The effect of the practice was that consumers could be charged significantly different interest rates from the same intermediary, depending on their ability to negotiate. For example, the same car dealer on the same day could set the interest rate at 6.5% p.a. for one consumer and 15.15% p.a. for another consumer even though they bought the same model of vehicle for similar value.

The plaintiffs allege that car dealers are the representatives of the banks in relation to the car loans and the banks are responsible for their actions.

Flex commissions were banned by ASIC from 1 November 2018.

If you want to know more about the claims, you can read the pleadings for each case on the Supreme Court of Victoria website here.

You can also read more about flex commission arrangements in the ASIC Report “Flex commission arrangements in the car finance market” dated March 2017 here.

Our resources to respond to individual emails and phone calls are limited. Please continue to review this website for the latest updates on the Flex Commission Class Actions and for new and updated Frequently Asked Questions.

Contact the team

If you need to update your contact details, please email the team on Flexclassaction@mauriceblackburn.com.au with your new contact details. Make sure you put “Change in Contact Details” in the subject line of your email.